Sermon Central
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Our Loving God Series
Contributed by Randy Hamel on Jan 13, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Show the love of God towards the two son and how God loves each of us
What we believe series - Part 2
Our Loving God – January 13, 2007 Luke 15:11-32
(Acknowledgements: Work of Dr. Henry Schorr, CSC Church, Calgary AB)
Introduction
o Last week we looked at God’s holiness and justice. Today were going to look at another characteristic of God, His love
o When I was a teenager futurists predicted by the year 2000 the number one issue we would face is too much idle time
o “The futurists said the 21st century would be a leisure-based society?”
o Let me ask you, what are you doing with all your free time?
o We are becoming fanatical in our pursuit to save time
o The changes in technology – electronics, cell phones, computers and the Internet were supposed to give us more free time
o Futurists predicted the average work week would be 30.0 hours weekly
o Denny’s restaurants experienced a dramatic increase in revenues bye advertising your dinner would be served in 10 minutes or you would eat free
o Dominoes pizza advertised pizza delivery in thirty minutes or it was free
o The CEO of Dominoes’ pizza said we don’t sell pizza we sell delivery
o And if you have ever tasted Dominoes’ pizza you would have to agree
o Fast food places, drive through banking or Internet banking, and pay at the pump stations have been designed to move us along faster
o The news of the world comes faster
o When I was a child it could take a week to find out about the assignation of a political leader like Bhutto
o Now we know the same day or within hours
o Cell phones with videos capture abuse and atrocities worldwide in lightening speed
o We pay big bucks to buy faster computers not because we need them but because we want then
o All of this speed hasn’t helped meet mankind’s deepest needs
o What happened to all the leisure time we were promised?
o Instead of a leisure-based society what we have today is a society filled with choices. “The problem is we don’t know how to choose” And when we choose we look for advice in all the wrong places
o That is true for many issues
o But when I think of love and how to love there are too many inappropriate choices
o We live in an instant society
o Instant family, instant jobs, instant society, and of course we want an instant mature church. And don’t forget about the instant love life
o Are you getting the idea that true love is a hard commodity to find
o My purpose this morning is not to get us to move slower, although at times that is a good idea
o My purpose is to some light on what the Bible has to say about what true love is
o Mother Theresa once said that North America, unlike poorer nations of the world, does not hunger for bread but love
o People on your block suffer from feeling unloved, unwanted, and hopeless
o They feel empty inside. Have you ever felt empty inside?
o We look for love in all the wrong places
o That is a fundamental reason were so hurried these days
o Were running, looking for love
o Some run from bar to bar, vacation resort to resort, from one man to the next as two of my sisters did, from job to job, from investment to investment, looking for the next high
o If you think about it, this crazy sex driven society is a reflection of mans deep longing for intimacy that God created him to have
o They give themselves to others sexually and inappropriately. Why
o Because people are longing to hear that they are wanted, desirable, special to someone else
o Others are running away from God himself, the very source of love
o Running away from God, from wholesome relationships, and from the church that Jesus died for, from a past they would like to forget
o All motivated by a craving for genuine love
o The point I want to address today is this
o Until we know God, follow his counsel, and embrace his love for us we will continue to be unfulfilled in life
o We will continue to look for love in all the wrong places
o Our souls must find rest in God and in God alone
o The Bible says we love God because He first loved us
o It is really through knowing God, the author of love, that we know what love is all about because God is the source of love
o Were continuing in our series called ‘What we believe’ so let me ask you this what do you believe about God’s love
o Do you believe that God would laugh at you and reject you because of your past?
